‘The Rookie’ Boss Explains Deleting Those Scenes From Extended Season 8 Episode

The Rookie fans received a treat to make the wait until 2027 and Season 9 a bit easier: An extended episode dropped on Hulu on Monday, July 20.

The new version of Season 8 Episode 10, “His Name Was Martin,” features extended scenes of the “zombie-like” horrors at Westview that Nolan (Nathan Fillion), Nyla (Mekia Cox), Miles (Deric Augustine), and Dash (Beckett Hawley) encountered; a bit more of what was going on with Bailey (Jenna Dewan) in D.C.; and Wesley (Shawn Ashmore) contending with Malcolm (Sean Patrick Thomas) in the Liam Glasser (Seth Gabel) case. Most notably, perhaps, is the deleted scene in which Tim (Eric Winter) wants to be the one to ride along with Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) instead of Celina (Lisseth Chavez) because he has a bad feeling, given the traumatic life-or-death fight the sergeant ends up in.

Below, Alexi Hawley explains why those scenes were deleted, which was the hardest to not include in the final cut, and more. Plus, could more extended episodes be coming?

You said that you pitched the idea of releasing this extended cut. So how easy or hard was it to get the yes to release this on Hulu? Because it is so rare to do this.

Alexi Hawley: It is so rare that I think when Lionsgate went to check with the unions about all the residuals and stuff like that, it was new territory. Nobody had made that phone call before to go, “Hey, what if we took a different version of the same episode?” So, it was surprisingly easy in the sense that I think everybody recognized that it was a unique idea. I think everybody at Hulu recognized that it was a sort of calling card for them separate from the ABC version of the show, which I think was exciting. So yeah, I was thrilled that everybody just sort of jumped right on board.

And especially because it’s something to give fans in this time between the seasons because you’re not back until 2027.

Right, exactly.

Disney/Mike Taing

But it also feels like this kind of opens the door for more of a want for extended episodes now. And with physical media, it was always so much easier — you have the deleted scene section — but so much is digital now, people aren’t really buying physical media as much. It’s an immediate want for things. That also was a factor, I feel like.

I think so. I mean, I’m always looking to do things that make us stand out a little bit that people haven’t done. I mean, I think partly our demo is sort of an impossible range. It’s basically like 10-year-olds through the nursing home. It’s super wide. And so I think it sort of empowers me to feel like we can just try all sorts of new stuff and interesting stuff and that people will follow. So, yeah, that’s what this seemed like, just a good opportunity to try something we hadn’t done before.

You bringing up the age ranges just makes me think there’s also such a range in genre, too — it’s a procedural, but you also lean into comedy a lot. So you’re able to do things like this episode where you then lean into horror.

Right. Yeah, we do every genre, we do every tone, and I mean a lot of time is spent on the scripts and then talking to the directors and obviously the actors at this point are well versed in how are we able to do all that stuff? And that’s basically to just ground everything in the reality of our show. And so as long as somebody’s playing the joke, then you can turn around and play something scary or emotional right afterwards and not feel like you’re in two different shows.

Did you try to talk to ABC about an extended episode for this one? Because there have been times where episodes have run longer in regular broadcast.

It is super rare. I mean, we can always be under, but we can really never be… I have never tried to be over because I sort of felt like that door was not going to open. But so, no, I’ve never tried on ABC to be longer.

I feel like it was more common back when I remember I’d be recording on a VCR. It’s not so much these days anymore.

Right. Yeah.

Most of what wasn’t in the original cut are extended moments, but there are a few deleted scenes, especially with Tim talking to Lucy and Celina about his bad feeling, Nyla talking about Miles, Nyla apologizing to Miles, Lucy and Celina getting the call to Westview, and Tim rushing out. Talk about making those cuts since it feels like it was a matter of choosing between the scenes with more action/that ramped up the tension and the quieter, more character-driven ones.

It was somewhat that and somewhat is the story still told? Because we were significantly over obviously the network runtime with this, which we’ve rarely cut full scenes over the course of the history of the show. I don’t like writing stuff that doesn’t end up in the show. It’s a waste of everybody’s time and money. So, obviously you have to cut lines here and there to make it fit and all that kind of stuff. But it did feel like there were several scenes that ultimately hit the cutting room floor for network, which really did add some depth to the character story. You get to see Tim’s concern for Lucy and the sort of near miss of it could have gone very differently if she’d said yes or that kind of thing.

Disney/Mike Taing

I really was sad when I lost the Harper and Miles journey, or at least the depth of it for her to have that conversation in roll call and then ultimately for her to apologize to him, which I had to lose both those things. I mean, again, the story was told. At the end of the day, her attitude with him was understandable and I don’t think it left you feeling less than. But then at the very end of the show, we had a moment where we cut about talking to IA about getting her out of uniform and then in the next episode she’s back in detective world. That was one of the things that fell by the wayside that I’m like, oh, we didn’t really set it up for next week, but that was a small price to pay.

Which scene was the hardest to delete?

Probably the Tim, Lucy, Celina one. That one really felt like it had a lot of value. But again, at the end of the day, the story was told as I keep saying. So yeah, but that was probably the hardest thing to cut was that whole scene.

How about from the extended scenes? Was there any part that was hardest to cut originally? Because there were little bits of dialogue here and there that you had to lose. Was it what you did with Miles and Nyla?

Yeah, there was some of that. Obviously, it streamlined, the kind way of saying it, that storyline. But I also thought that they had so many moments to shine in the episode that I didn’t feel like I was robbing anybody. I mean, that was one of the joys of it was just really digging into that storyline with them. They all go on their separate journeys and we get to go to each of them and see Miles with the clown doll in the corridor and see Harper in the building and all of that.

Because you had to make these cuts, most of which are connected to the A story of the episode, did you ever consider cutting or holing for another episode one of the other stories, like Bailey helping Grey, and including those other scenes?

I didn’t really because I thought it had great balance. I mean, part of the journey was when to release the tension, when to keep the tension going. We couldn’t just be in fear for 42 minutes. So a palate cleanser, obviously the Bailey story I thought was such a different story that it had a nice balance to it visually, and then story-wise. And then the Wesley one ultimately ended up seeming smaller at the beginning and then becoming something really… Again, we get to this place where my assumption was the audience would be like, “Don’t you dare kill Lucy.” And then once they’re like, “Oh, thank God he didn’t kill Lucy. Oh, f**k, he’s going to kill Wesley.” And then we didn’t end up doing that, but that was purposeful, that sort of sense of just when you think you can relax, you can’t. And that stuff was super powerful. That scene between Wesley and Ryan Dearborne, Patrick Stafford was amazing. So it was really powerful.

Disney/Mike Taing

It seems like there’s just a different kind of tension with the other storylines in this episode, and that’s what makes it work.

I think so. I mean, that was the goal anyway, was to just… I mean, part of what we really strive to do is be unexpected. It’s sort of built into the DNA of the show. Anytime they get out of their police cars, anything can happen and we try and carry that through every week story-wise. And then in this episode as well, I just never want the audience to really know where we’re going next.

Are there any moments that you cut that aren’t part of the extended episode that’s now out?

No, I don’t think. I mean, there’s a few lines potentially that ultimately we didn’t like — stuff like that. But no, I put in everything that I thought it should be in there.

Is there another episode you wish you’d released an extended cut like this for?

I mean, no. Up until this point, there really wasn’t an episode where so much of it didn’t make it into the network cut. That being said, going forward, if ABC Hulu was amenable, I might want to try this again. I think it’s, as you said, a way of rewarding the fans who are so focused on the show and also keeping some stuff for down the road in between seasons and stuff like that.

I was going to ask, could there be another one? There is now the platform with Hulu…

I think so. In some ways it breaks boundaries that have been traditional forever, which is great. But up until this point, it hasn’t really been utilized for that. I mean, there are some additional costs, but they’re not crazy. Obviously you’re mixing and coloring a second version of it, but those costs are fairly minimal compared to the cost of a television show. So I mean, it seems like an exciting possibility going forward.

In the statement about this extended release, you said that you can count the number of scenes you’ve dropped in eight seasons on one, maybe two hands. Are there any other Season 8 deleted scenes you can talk about?

I don’t think so, but now it’s been a minute and I’m deep into Season 9. So no, I don’t think there are.

Have you heard from any of the cast about this extended episode?

I did actually sit down and talk to Melissa. We did a little behind the scenes thing last week. We watched the extended episode together and put it together, and I think ABC Hulu’s going to put that out maybe today. So we just had a deeper dive. I kind of wanted to get into a process and she was so powerful in that episode that I thought it’d be a good conversation to have for fans to talk about how she approached it. And we had a little bit of a back and forth about the episode itself. So yeah, that’s coming out soon I think.

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So it’s just like a featurette. It’s not like a full commentary track?

It’s like 10 minutes. Yeah, it’s just the two of us sitting.

I know she was so good, especially because the moment that you delete from the end with her conversation with Nolan about her parents. That was such a good moment.

It was, it was. That might’ve been even harder to cut than the scene because it just felt like you just lived more with how disoriented and disconnected she is. And that is one thing that I’ve heard that police officers will say that they resonate with in moments like this, is that disconnect, that time shock basically where time just keeps jumping on you. And I think it happens to lots of people who go through traumatic events that things just sort of jump around and they get slippery basically.

The Rookie, Season 9, 2027, ABC